1Above toilet, where 14 died, razed; vital evidence destroyed

SHOCKING!Kamala Mills fire site tampered with a day before Judicial Committee’s visit

Ticked off by furious committee members, BMC sends notice to owners of Kamala Mills and two restaurants.

A judicial committee looking into last year’s fire at two restaurants in Kamala Mills compound has asked that the site of the tragedy be kept off-bounds for everyone, including the property’s owners, after discovering that large scale tampering of the structures may have led to destruction of crucial evidence.

Fourteen people lost their lives in a fire at two restaurants – 1Above and Mojo’s – inside Kamala Mills Compound on December 29, 2017. Investigations later revealed large-scale construction and safety violations at the two restaurants.

The judicial committee, in a recent site inspection, was shocked to find out that a toilet of 1Above, where all the 14 dead were trapped, had been razed. The committee also noted that a lot of material, all critical to its investigation into whether illegal alterations and non-compliance with fire safety norms had led to the fire, had been moved.

In a notice shot off by the BMC to Kamala Mills co-owner Ramesh Gowani and the owners of two restaurants after the committee brought to its notice the cavalier fashion in which the scene of the tragedy had been treated, directed that any activity at the site that could lead to further loss of evidence must be stopped. “You have demolished a toilet existing in the premises of hotel ‘1Above’ and also removed the materials (sic) from both the premises i.e Hotel ‘1Above’ and Hotel Mojo’s Bistro. Directions were given to this office and Senior Police Inspector, N M Joshi Marg Police Station, to stop all activities in the premises of the incident till further directions by the Hon’ble Enquiry Committee,” the notice said.

The Judicial Committee, constituted by the Bombay High Court in response to a PIL filed by former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, visited the Kamala Mills premise for the first time on May 12, 2018. Interestingly, the BMC’s notice says that the some of the structures and material the committee found missing existed till a day before its visit.

The letter further said that there should be no more tampering of evidence. “In view of above, you are hereby directed to keep the incident premise as it is without tampering with any of the evidence on site.”

The letter, a copy of which is with Mumbai Mirror, states that G South Ward office staff and senior inspector of NM Joshi Marg police station had accompanied the judicial committee on its visit.

When this newspaper contacted lawyer Shyam Devani, who is representing Ramesh Govani and his partner in their bail applications in the High Court, he said: “Legally and to the best of my knowledge as is apparent from the statement recorded by the police of 1Above owner, Abhijeet Mankar’s father Ashok Mankar, possession of 1Above was handed over to the owners by the police after completing their investigation in the case.”

However, when Mumbai Mirror contacted Advocate Kiran Jain, who has been representing all the partners of 1Above, he said: “According to my clients, the possession of the licenced premises was already handed over to Mr. Govani’s representatives a few days back and it seems Govani’s contractors have demolished the toilet structures.”

In a 2,705 page charge sheet in the case, the police had said that “ambers from an unattended hookah charcoal burning under a fan at Mojo’s Bistro had led to the fire.

The charge sheet also blamed “illegal acts”, starting right from the time of sanctioning of plans. Trade House building, out of where the two restaurants operated, was supposed to be an information technology park and had secured additional FSI for the same.

Mojo Bistro's co-owner, Yug Pathak’s lawyer Rizwan Merchant said: “Mojo’s Restaurant comprised of 2 parts - an open area and an enclosed fine dining restaurant in the name of “Frontier Post". After the application for removal of property filed by Yug Tuly was rejected by the court, on a motion by Yug Tuly and his legal team all the liquor from The Bar, along with the kitchen equipment and furniture articles of the fine dining restaurant were all stuffed and kept inside the fine dining restaurant. Nothing was ever removed from the site of Mojo’s restaurant. The police is aware of this. It was done without the knowledge of Yug Pathak."

Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty said that it is immaterial whether anybody had sought permission to tamper with the structures. “They have interfered in the judicial process of a fair trial, which is an offense. The premises were not sealed for various reasons, there was garbage there. How can they simply destroy evidence,” he asked.

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